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Wasn't waking up to the sun beating down on your fur supposed to be a serene kind of thing?
Yet here Wolf was, the rays crashing into him like someone was holding a giant magnifying glass against him and he was an ant that stupidly decided to walk on the sidewalk that morning. Rolling over pathetically, he squinted the entire time he reluctantly crawled out of bed to walk over to the window to shut the shades. He proceeded to flop back into bed as soon as he could, but when he found that the irritating feeling didn’t go away, he only became more annoyed.
“For parakeet’s sake,” he grumbled under his breath as he got out of bed once more and walked toward the bathroom. “What’s it take for a wolf’s fur to not drive him up the wall, huh?”
Getting into his bathroom, Wolf flicked on the light switch and hissed like a vampire when the brightness hit his eyes. Rubbing the pain away, he made his way to the sink to lean over it, gripping the sides of the porcelain, as the last little bit of blurriness dissipated from his eyesight. Squinting at himself in the mirror, he examined every nook and cranny he could see and found nothing out of the ordinary. His bedfur was even on the tamer side of things today.
However, when he reached for a drawer containing one of his fur brushes, that’s when he saw it. A little black dot making its way down his arm like it lived there. “Oh no. No no no no-” He used his other hand to comb through the fur a little bit, ending with the limb holding some of the hair out of the way so he could see directly down to his skin. Just as he horrifyingly expected, he found dozens upon dozens more of the black dots all cohesively moving together.
Fleas. Fudgesicles.
“Okay. Okay. Okay.” Wolf’s brain was a tad bit broken at the moment, so he wasn’t really able to say anything other than that as he mindlessly made his way back to his room. “Okay. Okay. Okay.”
He hadn’t had fleas since he was a teenager. He hasn’t forgotten the steps to taking care of them, but the shock at getting them again after so long was jumbling his brain up quite a bit. Flinging himself under his covers, Wolf grabbed one of his pillows and roughly held it on top of his head. It was half an attempt at itching himself and half an attempt at ending his misery. Seriously, this was going to suck so bad, and he didn’t even know where to begin to describe it.
Whatever, he could figure it out tomorrow after his mind rebooted.
---
Except he was only about seventy-six percent through the brain update when someone knocked on his door.
He practically was a rocket as he jumped out of bed to get to the front entrance, slamming into it and making sure the person on the other side didn’t open it. He audibly cleared his throat, “H-Hello there! What brings you to this fine residence?”
Wolf was about to be really thankful ding-dong-ditchers existed, seeing as no one responded for a significant amount of time, before Diane’s voice sounded out, “Uh, Wolf? Did you kiss your door or something?”
She was maybe the worst option out of all possible options to show up right now. Wolf took a deep breath as he tried sneaking his way around the current topic at hand, “You know I love me some good mahogany from time to time. Anyways, what brings you ‘round these parts?”
He knew Diane was thoroughly confused by the momentary pause. Wolf’s heartbeat began racing even more when she jiggled the door knob, “Well, I just came to visit you because I felt like it? Though, if I knew you were in a door-obsessed mood, I would have brought those test palettes I’ve been struggling to pick from to get your opinion. Seriously, Oak and Pine should not be so-”
“No! No-” Wolf coughed, interrupting himself and making his case look ten times worse than it actually was. “While I sympathize with your wooden plight, I’m afraid this household is currently a wolf-only door lover’s convention. I’ll be sure to put in a good word with the administration to let foxes come next time, though.”
Crap, now he definitely messed it up. He could smell Diane’s suspicion through the door, “Okay, what’s going on? You’re concerning me and you’re acting all cagey. You’re not hurt, are you?” She attempted to push her way in again.
Wolf pushed back even harder, “Of course not! There’s not a single scratch nor bruise nor blemish located anywhere on me!” At least, he thought. Fleas could sometimes leave marks, but he hadn’t had the time to check. “You really think that if I was, what, bleeding out that I would be spending time stopping you from seeing my totally real convention about doors?”
He could easily picture Diane placing her hands on her hips, “Then what is happening? I don’t like this guessing game you’re playing right now.”
“I- I just… I have fleas, Diane,” Wolf admitted, wincing to himself as the confession left his throat. “And I don’t think you should come inside because of it.”
Diane stayed silent for a bit, “Oh, oh! Geez, that sounds awful. Are you okay, er, okay-ish?”
Wolf swallowed the spit in his mouth, “As well as any of us can be after catching fleas.”
He could hear Diane’s sympathetic grimace from the other side, “Well, I’ll be sure to back off for the next while or so. I’m assuming you need me to watch over Kitty for a little longer as well, yes?”
Wolf nodded, fully knowing that she couldn’t see him, “Yes, yes, thank you, you’re a literal angel from the heavens. And I’m sorry if any of your plans got thrown off because of all of… this.”
“You don’t have to apologize for anything, Wolf,” Diane said sincerely. “Be sure to text me if anything serious pops up, okay? I may not be able to come in and see you personally but that doesn’t mean I can’t do anything whatsoever.”
Wolf slid down the door to sit on his butt, his breathing now heavy because of the psychological drainage of the panic and fear that coursed through his veins previously, “You got it, boss…”
Then finally, the clipping of her shoes hitting the pavement got quieter and quieter until Wolf couldn’t hear it, meaning she was out of the vicinity. Sheesh, that cut it way too close. Turning a little so he could lean his back against the door, Wolf lightly thumped his head against it, his shoulders sagging from just how tired he was.
The adrenaline drop on top of his exhaustion from being so itchy all the time was enough to get Wolf to fall back asleep right then and there, the cool wood only doing a little to quell the irritation ravaging his skin.
---
After a while of laying in his pile of misery and chafing, he vaguely registered movement from around him. As well as including him. Meaning another being was in the room with him and at risk of catching the fleas. He managed to squirm a little bit in an attempt to get away before a familiar voice gently shushed him.
“Easy buddy,” the roughness of the skin was enough for Wolf to feel it through all the other physical annoyances he was currently feeling. That along with how big the owner of the voice had to have been to lift Wolf like a stuffed animal meant it could only be one guy. Shark. “Just taking you to a nicer location. You love your giant bed, right?”
Yeah. Yeah, his big fluffy bed did sound nice, and Wolf almost relented to the manhandling before remembering the dozens if not hundreds of tiny vermins ransacking his fur. Shark was touching him and thus touching them and if he didn’t get away from Wolf right now Wolf would have more than just one reason to feel awful.
A whine spilled from his lips as he began trying to push out of the hold. When he failed at that, he vocalized how terrible of an idea this was, “S-Shark, put me down immediately! I have fleas, and I am not dealing with your butt complaining about how much fleas suck if I give them to you or the team!”
When Wolf felt his carrier freeze on the spot, he assumed he got his point across. Sure, it was going to suck getting plopped back down on the floor from such a high-up distance, but it was for the good of the team. It wasn’t the first time he sacrificed a little bit of comfort, and it definitely wouldn’t be the-
Shark started to giggle. What? “Wolfie, the rest of us are cold-blooded, remember? Those icky fleas want nothing to do with us. If it makes you feel better, we still plan to decontaminate with some anti-flea stuff after our visits on the off chance those buggers travel to us. We got it aaaaall under control.”
And- oh. That’s right. One time when Wolf was a kid, in one of his foster homes, he was stuck with a Scorpion and a Tiger. They were fine, kind of cool even, but there was a weekend where he and Tiger caught fleas and had to be quarantined from everyone else. All except for Scorpion, who loved to flaunt at the canine and feline how they never had to worry about fleas unlike “you two creatures.”
In hindsight, Tiger was the only cool creature at that house and largely the reason Wolf didn’t hightail it as quickly as he did with other houses.
The noise of a door opening brought Wolf back to the current world, which made him realize he was getting so lost in being taken care of that it allowed him to drift away into his memories. Before he could think about that in detail, he felt his body getting set on sheets that were way cleaner than he remembered them being when he woke up. Oh, now this is what heaven had to have felt like. Wait, didn’t he just point out how he shouldn’t be getting off track-
“Go back to bed, Wolf,” Shark soothed, petting his head and bringing the covers up over him. “We can keep watch while you get some extra shut-eye.”
Ah, he supposed he could never say no to his friends, now could he?
---
He wasn’t sure how long it took him to open his eyes again, but he knew he at least woke up to the smell of freshly cooked steak.
If it weren’t for a tiny and slippery arm keeping him under the covers, he might have floated out from them like a cartoon character and followed the scent trail. Thankfully, he didn’t need to go far, as the owner of the arm began to speak, “Ey, chico, easy now. You don’t gotta do anything except take part in my delicious skills. First, though, some medicine.”
Wolf got the impression he was allowed to sit up now, and as he flattened back against the headboard with a sigh, Piranha promptly set a tray on his lap that contained the beautiful slab of meat as well as a modest teacup on each side. Both had lines of steam radiating from their tops. In the middle of them was a small white tablet, most likely the medicine Piranha was talking about. Wolf laughed as he picked up the fork. You didn’t need to drug him to make him complacent, you just needed to be decent at cooking.
“Mmm, amazing as always, Piranha,” Wolf said around his first bite. “I still want you to teach me your ways at some point, you know.”
“Heh, and let you burn down your third kitchen? No way,” Piranha replied, holding something bigger than himself in his arms as he climbed onto the bed.
As Piranha sat silently, waiting for his friend to be done, Wolf noticed something on the steak. Oh, it was nothing bad. At least, he hoped. Vaguely covering the meat was a thin layer of light tan dust. Wolf was tempted to call it cinnamon's tasteless cousin. Really, it was so bland Wolf didn’t even realize it was there until he physically saw it.
As he picked up the medicine to take it along with the teacup to drink it down, Wolf raised an eyebrow, “Uh, what’s this weird spice you added to it?”
Piranha hummed, “It’s just some brewer’s yeast we had on hand. If the tea tastes weird that’s ‘cause I infused it with a little apple cider vinegar. I did my best to hide it, but some of it might come through.”
… Sure, “Okay, works for me. I guess.” Wolf soon finished the meal after swallowing the pill, leaving no bite uneaten or drop un-sipped. As quickly as it was brought in, Piranha was taking the dirty dishes away and pushing Wolf back down into a lying position. That thing in his arms turned out to be a blanket, and when Wolf felt it touch his skin, he shivered for more than one reason.
Not only was it cold, it felt amazing. It was a balm against the scorching fury that was his fur. If the blanket wasn’t so heavy his tail would be wagging all over the place. A satisfied sigh escaped his lips as he snuggled back into his cocoon of peace, his mind going blank as he entered the land of dreams once more.
A tiny fin brushed over his head between his ears, “Dormir bien mi amigo, you deserve it.”
---
The next time he awoke, he felt fuzzy toothpicks poke and prod at him.
Except the fuzzy toothpicks were slowly working their way through knots and tangles contained in his fur, and as each sore spot dissipated, Wolf could feel more and more tension drain from his body. As he wondered who was holding the brush, he noticed that the toothpicks were moving around as if they were their own sentient creature. Ah, so that’s who it is.
Wolf rolled over a little, giving Tarantula time to move out of the way and not get crushed, before laying completely flat on his back, “Hey Legs, happy to see you.”
Tarantula crawled to sit on his chest, “The feeling’s mutual, bud! How are the fleas doing? They feel like they’re going away yet?”
“Eeeeeh, I’ll get back to you about that,” Wolf said with a cheeky grin.
Tarantula laughed, “Yeah, I figured they would still be pretty bad. Don’t worry, I got you your next dose of medicine as well as some new technology I’m testing out.”
Wolf swallowed the pill dry, freezing for a second at Tarantula’s words, “I’m not gonna end up with a bald spot like last time, right?”
“Most likely not,” ah, that was better than nothing, Wolf supposed. Tarantula moved off his chest, “Now, roll over again. I wanna get the back of your neck.”
As Wolf did as he was told, a minor objection washed over his mind. Why was he lazing around like this? His friends could be in any amount of danger while he was incapacitated and then-
Then Tarantula hit a particularly nasty spot with her brushing and Wolf melted. Oh yeah, that was the stuff right there. Perhaps Wolf was slightly okay if they all got murdered if he felt like this while it happened.
“Yesss,” Tarantula spoke, drawing out the S victoriously. “My specially made brushes are working just as intended!”
Mhm, sounded good to- wait, what? “Sp’cially m’de?”
His words were muffled, but Tarantula understood him perfectly, “Well, I can’t brush your or Diane’s fur with how tiny I am, so I began to work on these little gadgets that can help me out! It’s not fair that Shark and Piranha are the only ones who can do it, you know?”
Ahh. Wolf got it now. A very vague understanding, as his brain was mostly thinking feels good and nothing else, but that was still technically an understanding.
She crawled up to the back of his head and began scratching his ears, “Feel free to pass out again when you want! You need all the sleep you can get, after all, you aren’t getting any younger if you know what I mean.”
Wolf playfully swatted at her, which she dodged with ease and a laugh. Then she went right back to scratching that spot on the back of his head, and, well, Wolf needed to work on how soft he was getting. He was agreeing to their demands way too easily.
---
Then the worst day by far of itchiness greeted him after waking up, only to be interrupted by the feeling of something smooth and cool scratching his back.
“Easy, you big baby,” Snake’s voice filtered into his ears, “you think this is bad, wait ‘til you get a skin infection like the one I got on my thirtieth birthday. This would feel like minor irritation in comparison.”
Blinking, Wolf sat up only to realize something was slightly preventing him from doing so fully. Looking around at his body, he noticed Snake was curled around one of his arms, his tail curving off to wrap a little around Wolf’s midsection. Well, that explained what was scratching him soothingly then, “Are we dying?”
Snake was thrown off by that comment, “I mean, I wouldn’t be opposed to that if we were, but no. Not sure why that’s the first thing you say after seeing me. Have I really gotten that ugly?”
“Snake, you’re cuddling me,” Wolf explained matter-of-factly. “You’ve always said you’d rather crawl up the car’s exhaust pipe instead of getting a hug from someone, and now you’re wrapped around me like I’m a plushie.”
The scratching stopped momentarily, and Wolf briefly cursed himself for bringing it up. He wouldn't mind being confused if it meant Snake kept the itchiness away. Thankfully, Wolf didn’t need to chastise himself for too long, though, as Snake eventually re-started up the scratching while moving his head to rest between Wolf’s ears, “Consider it a free favor of sorts. An out-of-pocket good deed. Ms. Fox tells me I need to earn more good boy points at the very least.”
Wolf slowly laid back down, careful not to squish any part of Snake as he found a comfortable position, “You listening to Diane? Are you sure we’re not dying?”
“Do you want me to keep scratching you or do you wanna play Twenty Questions?” Snake lightly chided. “I only have one free favor to offer every year, so choose wisely. Besides, you gotta take another pill anyway, and as funny as it would be, I’d hate for you to choke while I’m in vomit-vicinity.”
Wolf yawned, shutting up and finding the pill on the side table, immediately gulping it down before turning back to his side, giving Snake as much room to work as he needed, “Alright then. And you said I was being a baby.”
Wolf only hoped his wagging tail didn’t annoy Snake when it repeatedly bumped into him.
---
Aaaaand there it was.
The sun streamed in from the window shades as he awoke, and when he noticed it actually felt nice this time, he knew his fleas were finally gone. Sitting up and stretching his arms over his head, his tail lightly swished back and forth as he happily got used to the feeling of not being eaten alive once more. Shaking a little to get his blood flowing, he got out of bed with a skip in his step.
Brushing his fur and teeth, getting dressed in some modest comfy clothes, and heading to the kitchen to make something to eat, Wolf was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell ringing.
One of his ears twitched to face the door out of curiosity. Someone was visiting him at this time of day? With his eyebrows furrowed, he made his way to his front entrance and opened it with a level of uncertainty.
On the other side was Diane, Kitty waiting patiently in her arms.
Wolf gasped, “Oh my gosh, it’s my favorite girl!” After Kitty jumped into his embrace and he gave her a few scritches, he looked back up at Diane, “Hello, Diane.”
Diane shook her head as she stepped inside, quietly shutting the door behind her, “You better be giving her all the attention she deserves right now. She missed you terribly while you were stuck in quarantine.”
Wolf dramatically whimpered in sympathy, “I know, and I’m so sorry about it.” He lifted Kitty by her chest so they could stare into each other’s eyes, “You were such a good kitty waiting for me, weren’t you? Who’s a good kitty?”
Diane crossed her arms as she watched the happy scene before her, “Glad to see fleas aren’t enough to take you down.”
Wolf let out a psshh sound with his lips, moving Kitty so she could lay flat in his hold, “Are you kidding me? After everything I’ve been through? If a simple case of fleas were enough to take me out at this point I would say just let them. Not sure how everyone else learned about my predicament outside of you, but their presence was nice.”
“I messaged them, silly,” Diane informed him. “Just because I couldn’t personally help didn’t mean I was going to leave you alone.”
Oh, that interaction. The interaction at his door. Why did he forget about that interaction?
“Riiiight,” Wolf said, his paw still absentmindedly stroking Kitty in his arms. He began to make his way back to his kitchen, Diane on his heels. “Why did you do that again?”
Diane blinked, her teasing demeanor slightly dimming as she trailed after him, “Wolf, why wouldn’t I? Sure, fleas aren’t a world-ending crisis, but that doesn’t mean you should be left to deal with them alone.”
Wolf turned around and jumped a little off the ground, his butt landing on his counter so he could talk face-to-face with Diane, “Well, everyone sure seemed to act like it was.”
Diane stared at him like he grew two heads, “How so?”
Wolf shrugged his shoulders, Kitty moving to lay on his lap as he brought his legs up to sit criss-cross, “Is it not obvious? The bridal carries, the five-star meals, the cuddling and snuggling? It’s like you thought my last days were upon me and tried making them as comfortable as possible.”
“... Wolf, that’s what people normally do when their friend is sick,” Diane explained, the tone of feint horror behind her words. “Sure, maybe you guys went a little dramatic with it because name something that you all don’t do dramatically, but checking up on you? Making you food when you can’t get out of bed? That’s what my parents did for me as a kid all the time.”
Wolf paused, his hand freezing on Kitty’s back as he absorbed the information, “Huh, are you sure you’re not just weird? Well, weirder than you normally are-”
Diane lightly punched him on the shoulder, “Oh, hush you, but yes, I bet my entire political career on the fact that I’m the normal one here. Wolf, you…” her claws fidgeted as she figured out how to word what she wanted to say, “I’m sorry. You shouldn’t feel like being the bare minimum taken care of is ‘special treatment.’”
Wolf pursed his lips, “It’s not your fault. You probably went through similar things we all did, right, Crimson Paw?”
Diane rolled her eyes, “I’m aware my lack-of-talked-about childhood may or may not be all daisies and rainbows, but this conversation isn’t about me. It’s about you.”
Wolf’s ears turned back when he realized he wasn’t going to wiggle his way out of this emotional conversation. Drats. Wolf rubbed the back of his neck as he sighed, “Alright, fine. I will admit, it’s not so much that I never got taken care of, I just… I’m the big and strong leader of the group, you know? I take care of my stuff so I’m able to take care of everyone else. Getting pampered kinda defeats that purpose.”
“Hmm,” Diane pondered his words, leaning forward to wipe some lint off his shoulder. “Maybe you’re right in a certain way, but if you’re really doing this for their sake, then why shouldn’t you consider that they want to take care of you as much as you want to take care of them?”
A large car horn honk erupted from outside, making Wolf and Diane turn to look at the door, followed by Shark’s voice, “HURRY UP! The ice cream parlor is going to close soon and that special flavor ends tonight!”
Another familiar voice, Snake, followed after, “Heh, the closed sign doesn’t have to be a problem unless we want- OW! Tarantula, what the-”
“You should be thankful a light smacking is all you’re getting. Shark wanted to give you a shock collar.”
“What?! No I didn’t!”
“Are you sure about that, Papi? Do you not remember the time you said ‘I, Mr. Shark, have come up with my own original idea to give Snake a shock-’”
“You guys are such jerks!”
Any potential offense that might have been real toward that statement was mitigated by everyone’s raucous laughter that followed soon after. As Wolf stared at the door, Diane made her way toward it, “Well, Wolf, what are you waiting for?”
Blinking a few times, Kitty jumped off his lap just in time for him to bound off the table and chase after his friends, his tail wagging the hardest it had in his entire life, “Nothing at all, Diane. Nothing at all.”